Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-27
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.
.ho-+,v. Effort Of ]. T.. Rockford 70
Take His Life.

~. s.lects The Miner Once ~ the Sco"0
Of His Exploit-His Wife's Dese1
the Provoking Cause senss'ion"
Details.
Betveep 2 and 3 O'Clock yesterday a16er,
MON 7. T. Rockford, a printer, o ~
-. old. black hair and m~ustache, clean
Oh. Won somewhat bloodshot in the eyes,
- medium height, walked up into the com
a.s;no room of The MINER office. With
eut 90 wing a word to the foreman or tne
other printers present, he went up 10 inc
foreman's desk, pulled OF his coae ano
vest and laid them down. de then oenoer'
o+elv walked out OF the composing room
into the editorial rooms, wnere Inc eiSy
editor was engaged at work, ana peeieu
about as though he were looking 1or son's
one. He was asked what ne wanueu anu
made an incoherent reply, and, after q lev
irrelevant remarks, returned 70 tne
comnosine room where George Major,
the foreman, asked him what was
the matter with him, adding that he thought
him pretty drunk. Rockford replied he wa
not and that he was going to work that
night as q sub" He then said looking
towards the editorial rooms II wish ne
would get out of there" Major replied
iokipely and he said: IF you knew what
was on my mind you wouldn't josh me.
He had the nervous hysterical manner OF q
man who had been on a spree ana was
hesitating about continuing it.. He was
standing about ten feet from MAJOR wnlle
be was speaking and the Others in thereon
were distributing type at their cases. As
he finished speaking and before any one
could divine his intention to inter
fere, he put his left hand in his hip
drew a revolver, held it to
his right breast and. after swapping it twice.
fred, holding it so close to his shirt as to
char it for four inches about the spot
the bullet entered the right breast
high up near the shoulder. He fell imme-
diately to the floor and lay there crying
out for his lost love. The compositors in
the room rushed down stairs to get a
hea ring the shot came up from the job
and, seeing THAT had been done. tore
R%ockford's shirt and undershirt open and
to wash away the flow of blood from
the wound with q cloth and a basin OF
water. The flow was very slight and the
which was an ugly looking hole,
,welled up round the edges. The application
If cold water stanched the blood, and the
10th was left on the naked breast. The
had run for a doctor at the first
ire and soon one arrived, but the insulting
away in disgust. He was made as easy as
under the. circumstances, and
'eemed no more dismayed at what he had
lone than if it were an everyday occur
ence with him. He was asked what he
in the editorial rooms. and replied
he warted to go in there and shoot
+ in II systematic way. He admitted
having taken a few cocktails to bra &c him
elf up for the deed he contemplated aud
ursed his stupidity in using his left hand
7hen he should have used his right. He
scribed the cause of his act to q woman
nd directed a paper ia his coat pocket to
ct. Asked ii he felt pain at all he replied
I the negative, but could not raise his '
ight arm. The bullet had not penetrated
cavity OF the body, but was supposedly
nbedded in the muscles near the shoulder
lade. Ii
He was removed to the Sisters Hospital, {
here DR.. Hough visited him. He was hys- {
protesting against being c.rrved in /
ny way, and would hardly permit the
robe to be used. Finally the doctor To- '
ated it, but, seeing that Rockford was too c
luch under the influence If liquor to be
'eated properly, postponed the search un-
eAS AAc AAhS "oSA lS VII llhCJy
uieted down enough to b. dealt with. r
The cause of his rash attempt is due to =
le fact of his wife having left him lately. "
was seen yesterday afternoon and gave =
version OF the matter. Her maiden
ame was Young, and she and Rockford
ere married at StevensvilIe last Thanks
wing Day. They had been living in Mis- y
'ula during the winter, where she COM. n
aimed he ill-treated her and Allied to sup m
~ IIo1,eA L. : E:---
I'D went to Helena to work at his trade, e,
hAn she came to Butte to visit an aunt. D.
e found out she was here and followed II
r, working at the case on the Inter h
ountain for about a week. He did not K
ork on THE MINER while here. Yester. I'll
" morning he vent to the house where b
8 wife lived and had some words with n
r, after which he stimulated himself up Il
the suicidal pitch and came over to a
az MINER office, where he was we'll known d.
all the compositors. He formerly W
orked in Butte, where he is well known. a.
he following letter, which he had written il
the Inter Mountain Office, will explain a
3 motives as far as it goes: c,
To H PUBLIC-In order to be brief, I I'll
II only say that l am a printer, 28 years
age. The cause that nave for taking
e step that l have is domestic trouble.
| that care for on this earth, my wife, IL
g deserted me-. Without her l am no Il
cd. either for myself or anybody else. OF
e is living in this city. l wish it under b,
ood that l was neither drunk nor crazy. W:
ave never done any harm to anybody at
" to myself. l thank the bows OF the P
ut for the kindness they have shown me y,
the past. Very r: specially, be
]. T. ROCKFORD. tn
'own among printers as ''Roxie." To
t was learned later that upon hearing OF CO
deed Mrs. Rockford sent a message to tn
relatives, who live in Denver, saying CO
It he was in n critical condition and tn
Ul0 not live and asEino fbor, +o f,.uu,.J nm